Editing Babylonia (section)

====Literature====
{{Main|Akkadian literature}}
There were libraries and temples in most towns; an old Sumerian proverb averred that "he who would excel in the school of the scribes must rise with the dawn". Women as well as men learned to read and write,{{sfn|Sayce|1911|p=107}}<ref>Tatlow, Elisabeth Meier ''Women, Crime, and Punishment in Ancient Law and Society: The Ancient Near East'' Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd. (31 March 2005) {{ISBN|978-0-8264-1628-5}} p. 75 [https://books.google.com/books?id=ONkJ_Rj1SS8C&dq=women+men+literate+babylonia&pg=PA75]</ref> and in Semitic times, this involved knowledge of the extinct Sumerian language, and a complicated and extensive [[syllabary]].{{sfn|Sayce|1911|p=107}}

A considerable amount of Babylonian literature was translated from Sumerian originals, and the language of religion and law long continued to be written in the old agglutinative language of Sumer. Vocabularies, grammars, and interlinear translations were compiled for the use of students, as well as commentaries on the older texts and explanations of obscure words and phrases. The characters of the syllabary were all arranged and named, and elaborate lists of them were drawn up.{{sfn|Sayce|1911|p=107}}

There are many Babylonian literary works whose titles have come down to us. One of the most famous of these was the [[Epic of Gilgamesh]], in twelve books, translated from the original Sumerian by a certain [[Sîn-lēqi-unninni|Sin-liqi-unninni]], and arranged upon an astronomical principle. Each division contains the story of a single adventure in the career of [[Gilgamesh]]. The whole story is a composite product, and it is probable that some of the stories are artificially attached to the central figure.{{sfn|Sayce|1911|p=107}}